Looping Animations Using the Modular Flow and Elliptic Functions

Clayton Shonkwiler

Colorado State University

shonkwiler.org

/galway26

this talk!

Idea 1: Modular Flow

\(\begin{pmatrix} e^s & 0 \\ 0 & e^{-s} \end{pmatrix}\) acts on lattices…

Choose your lattice and your period carefully!

Modular Flow

Idea 2: Elliptic Functions

Elliptic functions are doubly-periodic, meromorphic functions on \(\mathbb{C}\).

Weierstrass \(\wp\) function conforming to square lattice

Weierstrass \(\wp\) function conforming to periodic lattice

Phase (using \(\wp\))

using \(\wp'\)

cn (using Jacobi elliptic function)

Quasi (using Weierstrass \(\sigma\))

Thank you!

This presentation: shonkwiler.org/galway26

Funding: NSF

Reference

Looping animations using the modular flow and elliptic functions

Clayton Shonkwiler

Proceedings of Bridges 2026: Mathematics and the Arts, 533–536